Norway's Financial Supervisory Authority has granted Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX) a MiCA licence. NBX can now offer services such as custody, trading and exchange of crypto-assets across all 30 EEA countries, a market of around 450 million people.
"This is an important day for NBX. The MiCA licence enables us to offer our services across the EEA under a single regulatory framework, and marks the beginning of the next phase in the company's development," said Stig Aleksander Kjos-Mathisen, Chief Executive Officer of NBX.
In a separate stock exchange notice, NBX has also confirmed the acquisition of Juju, which adds a customer base of 4,000 to the company.
The licence NBX has been granted covers seven service categories under MiCA: custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients, operation of a trading platform, exchange of crypto-assets for funds, exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets, execution of orders on behalf of clients, reception and transmission of orders, and transfer services for crypto-assets.
Through the application process, Finanstilsynet assessed NBX against the requirements under MiCA, including governance, risk management, security and operational resilience. The authorisation confirms the company meets these requirements.
With the licence, NBX can offer its services across borders throughout the EEA, without having to apply for separate authorisations in each individual country. This in principle opens a market of around 450 million people to the company, which has previously been limited to its Norwegian home market.
NBX is listed on Euronext Growth Oslo and headquartered in Lysaker. The company says it will continue developing its regulated service offering, including trading, custody and the issuance of e-money tokens.
The company points to a clear, harmonised regulatory framework as a prerequisite for greater trust in digital assets, and for broader adoption among both retail and institutional users.
The MiCA regulation (Markets in Crypto-Assets) entered into force across the EU/EEA to provide a harmonised framework for crypto services across borders. Before MiCA, providers had to apply for licences country by country, making expansion slow and costly. With a MiCA licence from a single supervisory authority, a company can offer the same services across all EEA countries without reapplying in each market.
NBX's authorisation comes at a time when several Nordic crypto companies have applied for and received MiCA licences, while large international players such as Binance have withdrawn from parts of the EEA market pending their own approvals. For NBX, the licence strengthens its position as a regulated provider in the Nordic market, while also providing a regulatory foundation for further European expansion and the development of services aimed at institutional customers.
Sources: NBX press release
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